Comcast to encrypt customers’ emails for security

DannyYadron

Google Inc. wants to make encryption hip -- and may have won a quick convert.

Comcast Corp.
CMCSA, +0.08%
, the nation’s largest Internet provider by number of homes and businesses served, Tuesday said it would begin scrambling customers’ email.

The move came hours after Google
GOOG, -1.10%
publicized for the first time the share of its email traffic with other providers that remains encrypted. According to Google, fewer than 1% of Gmail messages sent to Comcast.net addresses remained encrypted on a sample day last month.

Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas said the company is testing encryption and would begin using it more broadly on customers’ email “within a matter of weeks.”

The moves were an indication that some tech companies see privacy as a consumer issue after leaks from Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor.

Google began encrypting Gmail messages by default in 2010. The process uses math to turn messages into a jumble of numbers and letters that can only be read with a key. The challenge: It only works if both sides are using it.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use.
Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. Intraday data
delayed per exchange requirements. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM) from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All quotes are in local exchange time. Real time last sale data provided by NASDAQ. More
information on NASDAQ traded symbols and their current financial status. Intraday
data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM)
from Dow Jones & Company, Inc. SEHK intraday data is provided by SIX Financial Information and is
at least 60-minutes delayed. All quotes are in local exchange time.